Advantages Are Not Benefits, Benefits Never Killed The Cat

Last Update: January 10, 2011

What do you put on your websites?  What words? How do you make them make the visitor buy from you?

You write good copy, you give a preponderance of proof that your product solves the problem (or adds the pleasure) you claim it does.

The most important part of copywriting is the research.  You need to really understand your visitors.  Because you need to tell them what features your product has, what advantages these features offer, what are the benefits the advantages offer.  And, the part most sites I've been asked to look at never do,

What do the benefits mean to the visitors.

To talk about what the benefits mean, you need to understand the visitors.  You need to speak to a very small group of them, a niche.

Turbulence Training (an exercise and weight loss program).

features: e-book, cds, short, intense workouts, nutrition plan, workouts that target different muscles, have different outcomes, workout routines that don't require a gym.

 advantages:

1. you can lose weight and get in shape without buying another program

2. since the workouts are short, you can fit more sessions in your week, in days where you used not to be able to fit any exercise

3. you can concentrate on whatever body area you consider a problem

There are others.  But let's go to the benefits:

1. You feel better.  You look better. 

2. You exercise more often.  You exercise more.

3. When you concentrate on one area, you get results faster.

 What the benefits mean:

Well, here it depends on who your audience is:

1. can be

You can play with your six-year old grandson 

You have more confidence, men are interested in you

The women in your club will envy you

You can fit in your perfect wedding dress without your waist looking like a sausage

2. can be

you get strong fast and bench more than your cousin Greg

you save time that you can spend with your family

you save time so you can go hang out at clubs

3. can be

you get a flat stomach so your girlfriends will stop telling you to go on a diet

you get six pack abs so you can go to the beach and have all the chicks impressed

you get thin thighs, no more swish, swish when you walk, no more being self-confident about your thighs, good-bye long, wide dresses, hello skinny jeans

A good way to deal with this, once you've done your research, list all the benefits, then write:

What this means to you 10 times beneath each benefit, then complete the sentence.  If you cannot come out with 10 because you ran out of them, you're doing great.  If there's more than 10, keep adding, "What this means to you...  The point is to come up with all of them.

Do it today.  Then go back and add more tomorrow.  Then the next day, and the next.  Till you really and truly have covered them all.

Do your research well, and don't stop at listing the benefits.  Tell them what the benefits mean to them.  And you sell more.

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DABK Premium
You look at the Robb Report and things like that? [url]http://robbreport.com/Automobiles/21-Ultimate-Gifts-Bugatti-Bookends[/url]. Pay attention to how they talk about bookends that sold for $120,000 (in case you wondered, the base is included).
Look at how they present... history... how few there are... exquisite.

Limited supply is not a benefit, but an advantage... The benefit would be, when you own it, you become the member of a most exclusive club...

By the way, you tea set would go perfectly with the 44 million dollar yacht they're talking about in this issue. I'm inclined to bet the guy (guyette) who bought that yacht might actually use the set for his/her 5 o'clock tea and crumbs.
jatdebeaune Premium
I'm serious. Here's a start: $65,000 tea service by a famous architect. Collector's item. Limited edition. Very beautiful. Functional. Customer is a specific art collector of functional utilitarian design. To customer, price is not an issue. Benefits: In limited supply. Will appreciate in value, therefore investment. Can show off how discerning they are to friends and business associates. Enjoyment of the beauty. Owns a thing of beauty, craftsmanship and line. Owns a piece of art history. Can sell it, retains value and even appreciates in value in time. Auction. Now, what do these benefits mean to the Collector/Customer?
jatdebeaune Premium
I get it. I agree. You always make astute points Dusan. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE and address them. Press their hot buttons. Point out advantages and benefits. The two are different. See, I get it. Is Annabella your wife? She doesn't look as if she's into skinny dipping. More the elegant deluxe 5 star Resort type in a Chanel bathing suit. The point I was making was a little subjective, based on what I am selling. You can romance that $65,000 tea service for me. I dare you.
DABK Premium
What I'm getting at, apparently not well, is that benefits are good. However, what the benefits mean to a particular person/group is even better. If you say, you'll feel sexy if when you wear this dress, it's good. If you make an image about them feeling sexy that ties the wearing the dress to what feeling sexy does for them, it's better.

Feeling sexy, the variations aren't endless but they mean different things to different people. The same with saving time.

When I was 17, you could have sold me anything if you convinced me that me buying that thing would get Annabella to go skinny dipping with me.

Actually, I'm wrong. If you said a woman between the ages of 17-30, average or better by looks, and not mean and boring, would look in my direction would have sufficed.

Later, there were a few other things that could have done the trick. At some point, saving time to I can study for my freaking finals so I can get out of here was powerful. If you'd have told me something would get me faster into a vacation or paid job (money in my pocket, nice car, better clothes)...
jatdebeaune Premium
Depends on what you're selling. Always good to hit the emotional buttons first, especially if it's a luxury item. How will it "feel" when you own it, then front load the benefits. Appeal to the imagination.
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